Colombia’s Inspector General will charge former Minister Andres Felipe Arias for his role in the scandal involving the allegedly fraudulent granting of government agricultural subsidies, W Radio reported on Monday.
According to the radio station, Arias is among nine officials who will be investigated for the granting of the subsidies to beauty queens and wealthy and politically powerful families, while they were meant to stimulate poor farmers.
The former Minister is already being investigated by the Prosecutor General, who hasn’t yet decided whether to officially pressed charges.
Arias is accused of having granted the subsidies to rally political support primarily in the northern region of the country. His successor admitted publicly that beneficiaries of the subsidies financially supported efforts to re-elect former President Alvaro Uribe, but the former Minister is also suspected of having rallied support for his own presidential ambitions previous to the 2010 elections.
